Alright, it's back in Max's POV for this chapter :)

I've been kinda... not busy lately. And felt like writing. So I'm working on chapter nine at the moment. I really don't get why people aren't willing to give my story a try. I'm not trying to sound all biotchy and ranty and stuff, but I just wish I could get more feedback. I never know if I'm doing a good or bad job because no one ever tells me :/Well, maybe in the future, when I write more. I do hope things get better though.

So till then, Happy Reading C:


Chapter 8

I woke up to the sound of Total growling some gibberish I didn't make any effort to understand. I ignored him and covered my ears with my sweater pillow. No way was I getting up. In despair, Total licked my face with as much slobber as he could possibly muster.

"UGH!" I groaned with disgust. "Total!" I hated it when the mutt licked me. "You have no sense of respect for the sleeping!"

"Morning, sunshine," I heard a familiar voice hiss.

I stopped what I was doing, not moving a muscle as I took in the image of Ari pinning Aero against a tree. Blood stained the sandy dirt ground like red wine on a carpet.

No, my mind thought with useless effort. Not this.

"Leave her alone! It's me you want!" I yelled at him.

Ari shook his head, a sly smile crossed his deformed mouth. "Again, you show your weakness so obviously, Max." He slowly dug his claws into Aero's neck, prolonging the pain. She grabbed his large, hairy wrist in desperation, coughing in pain.

I thrust myself at Ari, my wings giving me an extra boost of speed. But to my misfortune, his reflexes had improved. He grabbed my arm and threw me to the ground. Hard. I felt a sharp rock strike me right in the back and my spine exploded with pain.

Ari cackled with satisfaction. "Having a nice dirt sandwich, Maximum? I've been practicing, can't you tell?" He was hysterical at the fact that I was down and injured.

Aero glanced over at me, worry written on her face. I had to get up.

"Sorry, Max, but we need Aerodynamic here," Ari sneered. "We're not done with her tests just yet. Jeb had so much planned for you." His face was barely inches away from Aero's.

Then I thought about it; Jeb, Ari, the School. The ultimate mix of evil. I couldn't let it happen. Struggling to get up, a sharp pain paralyzed my leg and I prayed that the blow to my spine hadn't ridden me of movement in my legs. With as much strength as I could gather, I dragged myself to Ari's wolf-like feet and grabbed his ankles, ready to pull him down.

He scowled and kicked me off. But I didn't give. Ignoring the pain throughout my body, I stood. Dirt caked my clothes and scrapes penetrated my skin. I flipped the hair out of my eyes. Ha. As if that was going to discourage me. No matter what, I'd protect a fellow avian hybrid.

Ari frowned, "You just don't give up, do you?" His claws grasped Aero's neck tighter.

"I guess I don't," I grinned. "I'm not leaving here without Aero, which means you're not taking her."

His grimace widened in a sick way. "I beg to differ with that statement."

Large, heavy footsteps noisily made their way to our campsite. The cavalry had arrived.

Erasers surrounded us now, patched-on wings spread and toothy smiles on their faces. It disgusted me. I remembered how much faster they had gotten and how their flight patterns had improved with their wings. Still, they were no match for me who had natural wings from birth. There was only one thing I could do now; fight back.

Just then, out of nowhere, a black blur struck Ari's arm, releasing Aero from his grasp. All the Erasers stopped in their tracks, ready for their new enemy. Many of them looked dumbly up into the sky. As the rush of dust, dirt, and feathers cleared, a tall, dark figure came into focus.

Fang's foot was on top of Ari's chest, holding him down.

"If you ever put your hands on Max or Aero again," he threatened. "I'll rip you to shreds."

Ari only leered at him. "Already defending little Aero? Aren't you moving a little fast, pretty boy?"

He grabbed Fang's leg and threw him off, aiming for a nearby tree. Just in time, Fang opened his wings and used his feet to kick off from the trunk, tackling Ari head first.

"Go get Aero!" he called to me. "Iggy, Nudge, Gaz, and Angel are fine!"

I heard Ari snap at him and menacingly say, "You're going to be nothing but feathers and bird scraps when I'm done with you!" But I knew Fang could handle him. I nodded and ran to Aero's side. Her neck was bloody and she was coughing like she was dying.

"Not as bad as it looks," she managed to say, trying to sound confident.

I hoped she wasn't lying. Without warning, an Eraser grabbed my arms, holding them back and making me an open target. Another Eraser picked up Aero and flung her over his shoulder with ease. "We'll take both of 'em," he said pointing to Aero and me.

"Excuse me?" I said in a sarcastic tone. "We've got names, ya know."

He glared at me and came up to my face. His horrible wolf breath clouded my head. I tried not to breathe through my nose. "Well, well," the Eraser mocked me. "Don't we have a smart little mouth?"

I spit in his face. He recoiled, snarling as he rubbed his eyes. As soon as he recovered, he spat at me, "Show some respect."

I was about to snap back at him, but then I saw Aero give me a signal. I smirked and said to the overgrown dog-boy, "I would, but I think someone like you deserves a good butt-whooping instead!"

At that exact moment, Aero unleashed her wings to full length and slid through the Eraser's arm, head first. As soon as her hands touched the ground, she got herself in to position and did a sweep kick under the Eraser's legs. His bulky body came crashing down. The ground shook from the impact.

While the Eraser pinning my arms back was distracted, I jabbed my elbow into his side, breaking a rib or two. Or maybe three. He howled, clutching his side in pain and I took this chance to bring him down with a neck chop kick.

Triumphant, Aero and I got ready for more Erasers. "Nice move," she said to me. We were facing back to back, both of us were on our guards, breathing hard. "Thanks," I replied. "You're not so bad yourself." I looked around in all directions, eyeing Fang in the process. Unexpectedly, he came running up to us. And fast.

"Fa---," he stopped me in mid-sentence and grabbed my arm.

"We've gotta go," he warned me. "We're outnumbered!"

"Why!?" I cried. "We're kicking serious butt here!"

Aero gasped. "Not anymore."

I hadn't noticed before, but there was slight rustling in the trees, but no wind. We all stood back to back in a circle, barely breathing in case something would suddenly jump out at us. "This is weird," I said under my breath.

Fang nodded. "Didn't you notice that only two Erasers attacked you? Where do you think all the others went?"

I hadn't thought about that. I was so caught up in the moment and my adrenaline was pumping like crazy. Now my heart was ready to jump out of its chest.

All of a sudden, a long, slender body pounced in front of us. It had a long tail and its eyes glistened in the coming dawn light.

"Don't tell me you're leaving already," a female voice purred teasingly. "We only just got here."

Ari's voice rumbled behind me. "We don't need you here," he said. "Take your pack and go, Tally."

"These are Executioners," Aero told us in a hushed voice.

"Execs, huh?" I thought to myself. The leader of the Execs, whom Ari had called Tally, looked a lot like I had imagined. They had long, slim, but muscular bodies. The human features on their face shared cat-like characteristics like ears, nose, and eyes. A lengthy tail for balance and fine claws for shredding. Fur covered their bodies, but in a neater way, not all ruffled and rough like the Erasers. Each Executioner had different patterns on their fur from different species of feline.

Tally snickered, showing her vicious teeth and warning us not to mess with her. "How have you been, Aero?" she asked. "Haven't seen you since we stopped in Maryland."

"I'm fine, Tally," Aero answered calmly. "No thanks to you."

Some of the Execs giggled at her spunk. Tally, unamused, held up a hand to silence them. "Don't get snappy with me, runt," she ordered. "I have a good mind to snap your little bird neck. Now, if you hadn't noticed already, we've got you outnumbered, surrounded. So why don't you and your friends take a little walk with us?"

Aero took a cautious step back and lightly tapped the back of my hand.

"Thanks," she said. "But I prefer to fly."

In the blink of an eye, the three of us unfurled our wings and took off as fast as we could go. I looked down and saw a group of Erasers taking off after us.

"Speed it up!" I commanded. Aero and I could fly at over 200 miles per hour, but we had to keep it at a normal speed for Fang.

"Follow me," said Fang. "I told Iggy where to meet us."

He moved himself to the front of the line and swooped down to the trees. My eyes did a 360-degree scan, then stopped at Aero, a look of distress on her face. I moved closer to her to catch her attention.

"What's up?" I asked.

She just shook her head. "Nothing... just be prepared when we land."

Yeay :D Chapter eight GET! Hope everyone enjoyed the introduction of the Executioners. Gawd, I can't wait to write about the other mutants and Seth xx I wanna get to those parts ASAP, so I'll keep writing X3

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